Transparency, choice and control — now complete with a Dashboard! — Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your account — easily and concisely in one location.

The decade of Steve — How Apple's imperious, brilliant CEO transformed American business. — (Fortune magazine) — How's this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death …

Introducing Closure Tools — Millions of Google users worldwide use JavaScript-intensive applications such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Maps. Like developers everywhere, Googlers want great web apps to be easier to create, so we've built many tools to help us develop these (and many other) apps.

RealNetworks to Lay Off Four Percent of Staff Today — The Seattle area is going to get another jobless jolt today, with RealNetworks planning to lay off four percent of its workforce, sources said. — That's a small number-just about 70 people out of its 1,700-person staff-but the move comes …

List of all magazines now available in Google Books — Posted by Jeffrey Peng, Software Engineer, Google Books — I'm a software engineer on Google Books. One of my main projects is adding magazine content and features to the site. In September we were excited to announce the availability …

Introducing Google Commerce Search: Finding holiday gifts faster — The holiday season is right around the corner, so online retailers are gearing up for spikes in traffic. When people go to shop online, search is big part of finding the right product, whether they're looking for a gift or just something for themselves.

AT&T gearing up to launch $99 8GB iPhone 3GS? — Definitely not confirmed, but rather interesting nonetheless. We've heard now from two sources that AT&T, and we guess Apple, are contemplating launching an 8GB iPhone 3GS at the $99 price point before Christmas.

CBS Swings To Profit; Interactive Revs Drop 14 Percent — CBS' earnings were on the positive side in Q3, as revenues were down less than 1 percent, an indication that the economic pain of the past year may be easing a bit. Specifically, net income in Q3 was $207.6 million ($0.30 cents per share) …

Hands on with the new Dell Adamo XPS — After months of teaser shots and cameo appearances, Dell has officially announced pricing and other details for the revamped Dell Adamo XPS laptop. Without setting a specific date, Dell says it expects to “begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS in time for the holidays.”

I Love the Smell of Settlement in the Morning: Skype Founders Set to Get 10 Percent, Option to Buy Three Percent More and Two Board Seats — According to several sources close to the situation, barring any unforeseen delay, a deal to settle the Skype imbroglio is likely to be announced around the time the markets open tomorrow.

Verizon confirms Droid tethering option, hefty price tag — Motorola Droid smartphones to match capability of Apple's iPhone — Verizon has confirmed that customers will have the option of connecting a laptop to their new Motorola Droid smartphones, on sale tomorrow, using the phone as a wireless modem.

Garmin communicates with your car via ESP — We stopped by Garmin's booth at the 2009 SEMA Show expecting a new GPS device or news of another OEM integration deal, but we stumbled upon something even better. Sometime next year, Garmin's Nuvi GPS devices will gain the ability to communicate with your car through ESP.

Social Isolation and New Technology — This report adds new insights to an ongoing debate about the extent of social isolation in America. A widely-reported 2006 study argued that since 1985 Americans have become more socially isolated, the size of their discussion networks has declined …

Twitter fanatic glimpses dark side of OAuth — ‘Secure’ authentication can be anything but — A mobile enthusiast and professional internet strategist got a glimpse of OAuth's dark side recently when he received an urgent advisory from Twitter. — The dispatch, generated when Terence Eden tried …

PS3 Netflix Disc Arriving Friday — Disc-based solution will give PS3 users another way to watch movies. — Netflix for the PlayStation 3 is almost here. According to a note that arrived in our inbox this morning, the disc is in the mail even now. — Sony and Netflix made it official …

Plumber vs. Programmer: A face-off over an online directory — For more than 30 years, Evan Conklin has practiced plumbing in the Seattle area fixing broken water heaters, leaky faucets and malfunctioning toilets. And during those three decades, Conklin has seen a lot of crap in the business world.

As Facebook Ages, Gen Y Turns to Twitter — Facebook is getting old. No, people aren't getting tired of it, it's actually getting old, as in its population is aging. In May of 2008, the median age for Facebook was 26. Today, it's 33, a good seven years older.

SlingMedia Founder Invests In Clicker, Joins BOD — Ever since Blake Krikorian left Sling Media, the place shifting startup that he sold to Echostar for $380 million in September 2007, he's been lying low. Instead of trying to build yet another startup, he has been spending time trying …

Dating habits of iPhone users revealed — Hey, fresh this morning from the spurious but strangely amusing iLifestyle desk comes a breakdown of the dating habits of iPhone users.. — According to Retrevo (remember them, they told Apple what to charge for its current fantasy tablet product last week) …

Google Tests New AdSense Management Console — Google AdSense announced today at the CRS Conference that they are currently testing a new interface for the AdSense console. The beta is currently being tested by few publishers, but Google promises to allow “thousands of publishers” to test this out “over the coming weeks.”

Facebook Chat Coming to Gtalk, Jabber Imminently — Facebook Chat's integration with Jabber/XMPP is just around the corner which means you'll be able to use applications like Gtalk to communicate on Facebook. — According to the ProcessOne the launch is imminent as their bot on IMTrends …